Tsuritama 05

Tsuritama 05

RECAP OF EPISODE 4: Haru learns that actions are stronger than words, while Yuki understands that Haru really wants to learn how to be human. Haru doesn't get rid of the water gun in the end, though... (I missed the post because I went on a roadtrip with my own gay fishing BFFs, yay!)

Despite the amazingly animated visual metaphors, the eccentric and rather cutesy characters, the dericious bromance between cute high school boys, and the wacky premise & plot of Tsuritama, I just can’t get myself to like this show as much as I feel like I should. There’s a lot of factors working in it’s favor, but there are some things that bother me too much. Well, it’s actually only Haru, but…

Haru’s actually much more tolerable these episodes, thanks to Grandma and Yuki from the touching fourth episode. In fact, he seemed to have developed much more than Yuki. Natsuki’s developed more, too! I was confused when Natsuki was all smiles and sunshine to both of them in this episode, although looking back at the last episode he seemed to smile a lot more than his episode 1-3 self. It was so creepy and somewhat jarring. Casting into the bucket suddenly makes him stop being so tsuntsun? Seeing as how the focus seemed to shift to Akira at the end, Yuki’s character will probably be the last one to go through any fundamental character developments, aside from this episode’s I CAN SCREAM AT PEOPLE AND BE A MAN OF THE SEA!!1!11 lesson.

Tsuritama’s focus on character development and relationship building creates sentimentality that fans of the show probably feed off of. For me, this episode’s diabetes-inducing sentimentality has been unfortunately underwhelming. Perhaps I’ve become tolerant of the cuteness I raved over in the third episode’s post, or maybe I just don’t care too much for Yuki, as cute as the kid is. But, as mentioned earlier, Haru’s “alien” cringe-worthy weirdness has toned down, and the show isn’t boring. So, really, it’s not bad. There are a few things I still watch Tsuritama for.

♥ Vivi’s Husband ♥ is one !!! ♥_♥ Excuse me for the overuse of heart symbols, but man, Sugita’s voice is pretty hot. ♥ The way Akira said, “I look forward to fishing with you,” was sexier than it should have been. (This is why I don’t write about Gintama. Half of all of my posts would be dedicated to Sugita.) But almost half way through and we’re still unsure of this guy’s background despite how sexaaay he is, unsure of when he’ll join our gay fishing bros, and still unsure of what the hell is going on in the show. Aliens? Capturing a giant fish? Secret – possibly evil – duck organization?

Luckily, despite the lack of some really weird plot progression and character revelations, this episode still had its usual Animal Crossing-vibe to it that makes it somewhat fun to watch. It’s cute and quirky, with some weird characters, bright colors, and quaint BGM filling the void of a slow-moving plot; and, hey, some fishing, too! But this episode’s touching, climatic moment was subpar to the previous two episodes’ – Yuki jumping in after Haru thinking he drowned, Yuki successfully pulling off the Enoshima Bowl! move. Introduce more of the story, more emotion, some action! I want some more d’aaaaw moments or WTF moments. Doesn’t have to be both, but really awesome animation and a duck isn’t going to cut it. There’s still a chance for me to fall back in love with Tsuritama again, but I need more to work with than a bunch of characters I don’t care about that much.